Vessel operating costs expected to rise

The survey is based on responses from key players in the international shipping industry, predominantly ship owners and managers in Europe and Asia. And those responses identified lubricants as the cost category likely to increase most significantly over the two-year period – by 3.6% in 2011, and by 3.1% in 2012.
Crew wages, meanwhile, are expected to increase by 3.1% in both 2011 and 2012, while the cost of spares is expected to escalate by 2.7 % and 2.6 %, respectively, in the two years covered by the survey. Expenditure on stores, meanwhile, is expected to increase by 2.5 % in each of the two years. The cost of repairs and maintenance is expected to increase by 2.8% and 2.6 % in 2011 and 2012 respectively, while the increase in P&I costs for those two years was estimated by respondents at 2.4 % and 2.3 % respectively. As was the case in the previous survey, in 2010, management fees was identified as the category likely to produce the lowest level of increase in both 2011 and 2012, at 1.8 % and 2.0 % respectively.
Moore Stephens also asked respondents to identify the three factors that were most likely to influence the level of vessel operating costs over the next 12 months. Overall, 26% of respondents identified finance costs as the most significant factor, followed closely by crew supply (25%). Demand trends were in third place, with 14%. In last year’s survey, 30% of respondents identified crew supply as the most significant factor, followed by finance costs, at 28%, and demand trends at 16%.
Labour costs, competition and raw materials costs were other significant influencing factors which featured in the responses to the survey.